scholarly journals Large-Scale Conditions for Reintensification after the Extratropical Transition of Tropical Cyclones in the Western North Pacific Ocean

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (23) ◽  
pp. 10039-10053
Author(s):  
Wataru Yanase ◽  
Udai Shimada ◽  
Nao Takamura
Keyword(s):  
Tropical Cyclones ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
Western North Pacific ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
North Pacific Ocean ◽  
Japan Meteorological Agency ◽  
Horizontal Gradient ◽  
Extratropical Transition ◽  
Planetary Scale ◽  
Upper Level

AbstractTropical cyclones that complete extratropical transition (ETTCs) in the western North Pacific are statistically analyzed to clarify the large-scale conditions for their reintensification. A dataset of ETTCs is grouped into intensifying, dissipating, and neutral classes based on the best track data documented by the Japan Meteorological Agency during the period 1979–2018. Intensifying ETTCs are most frequent in September–October, whereas dissipating ETTCs are most frequent in the later season, October–November. Intensifying ETTCs occur at higher latitudes than dissipating ETTCs, where the upper levels are characterized by high potential vorticity (PV) and a steep horizontal gradient of PV. The composite analysis demonstrates that intensifying ETTCs are associated with deep upper-level troughs to their northwest, intense ridge building to their northeast, and strong updrafts to their north associated with vorticity advection and warm-air advection. These results statistically support the findings of previous studies. Furthermore, an analysis using a time filter demonstrates the relationship between planetary-scale environments and synoptic-scale dynamics in the upper levels. The high PV to the northwest of ETTCs is attributed not only to eastward-moving troughs, but also to the environmental PV. The low PV to the northeast of ETTCs results from the negative PV formation associated with ridge building, which almost cancels the environmental PV. Thus, the environmental PV at relatively high latitudes enhances the intensity of positive PV to the northwest of ETTCs, and increases the upper limit of the magnitude of ridge building to the northeast.

scholarly journals Extratropical Transition of Tropical Cyclones in the Western North Pacific: Their Frontal Evolution

2008 ◽  
Vol 136 (6) ◽  
pp. 2066-2090 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naoko Kitabatake
Keyword(s):  
Tropical Cyclones ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
Western North Pacific ◽  
Global Analysis ◽  
Potential Temperature ◽  
Japan Meteorological Agency ◽  
Extratropical Transition ◽  
Equivalent Potential ◽  
Typhoon Center ◽  
Baroclinic Zone

Abstract Extratropical transition (ET) in the western North Pacific during 2001–02 is examined in terms of frontal evolution and its environment using a gridded global analysis dataset produced by the Japan Meteorological Agency. According to the best-track data created by the Regional Specialized Meteorological Center (RSMC) Tokyo-Typhoon Center, 23 out of 52 (44%) tropical cyclones (TCs) completed ET during these two years. These ET cases are classified into three categories in terms of the lower-tropospheric equivalent potential temperature distributions, characteristics of the TCs, and their environments. Eight TCs (35% of all ET cases) had temporary warm secluded frontal patterns and then occluded patterns at the completion of ET, which is defined as a seclusion–occlusion (SO) type. This occurs downstream of an intense upper-tropospheric trough interacting with a TC, which is then likely to move northward while keeping its tropical characteristics and have a large impact on relatively high latitudes including all the Japan islands. Three TCs (13%) were apparently absorbed into vigorous preexisting fronts in the southwest of midlatitude cyclones; this situation is defined as a cold advection (CA) type. A TC of the CA type is likely to lose its tropical characteristics rapidly in strong cold advection that is equatorward of a relatively straight upper-tropospheric jet stream. The other 12 TCs (52%) were organized into an open-wave frontal cyclone, which is defined as an open-wave (OW) type. This has characteristics of both SO and CA and is more related to the midlatitude baroclinic zone compared with the SO type.

scholarly journals Influence of Track Changes on the Poleward Shift of LMI Location of Western North Pacific Tropical Cyclones

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (23) ◽  
pp. 8437-8445
Author(s):  
Ruifang Wang ◽  
Liguang Wu
Keyword(s):  
Tropical Cyclones ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
Western North Pacific ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
North Pacific Ocean ◽  
Mixed Layer Depth ◽  
Vertical Wind Shear ◽  
Environmental Parameters ◽  
Ocean Basin ◽  
The Mean

Abstract The annual mean latitude at which tropical cyclones (TCs) reach their lifetime maximum intensity (LMI) over the western North Pacific Ocean basin has shifted northward since the early 1980s, and it is suggested that the shift is due to the northward migration of the mean TC formation location. In this study, the TC intensity is simulated with an intensity model to assess the historical records of TC intensity. During the period 1980–2015, the simulated poleward trend in the mean latitude of LMI is 0.44° (10 yr)−1, which agrees well with the one [0.48° (10 yr)−1] derived from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) dataset. This suggests that the observed poleward trend in the mean latitude of LMI is physically consistent with changes in the large-scale ocean–atmosphere environment and TC track. This study also demonstrates that the temporal change in the environmental parameters (sea surface temperature, outflow temperature, vertical wind shear, and ocean mixed layer depth) has little influence on the observed shift of the mean LMI latitude. The poleward migration of the mean LMI latitude is mainly due to the TC track shift, which results primarily from the change in the large-scale steering flow.

scholarly journals Mesoscale Features Associated with Tropical Cyclone Formations in the Western North Pacific

2008 ◽  
Vol 136 (6) ◽  
pp. 2006-2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheng-Shang Lee ◽  
Kevin K. W. Cheung ◽  
Jenny S. N. Hui ◽  
Russell L. Elsberry
Keyword(s):  
Tropical Cyclone ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
Western North Pacific ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
North Pacific Ocean ◽  
Deep Convection ◽  
Mesoscale Convective System ◽  
Convective System ◽  
Synoptic Patterns ◽  
The Mean

Abstract The mesoscale features of 124 tropical cyclone formations in the western North Pacific Ocean during 1999–2004 are investigated through large-scale analyses, satellite infrared brightness temperature (TB), and Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) oceanic wind data. Based on low-level wind flow and surge direction, the formation cases are classified into six synoptic patterns: easterly wave (EW), northeasterly flow (NE), coexistence of northeasterly and southwesterly flow (NE–SW), southwesterly flow (SW), monsoon confluence (MC), and monsoon shear (MS). Then the general convection characteristics and mesoscale convective system (MCS) activities associated with these formation cases are studied under this classification scheme. Convection processes in the EW cases are distinguished from the monsoon-related formations in that the convection is less deep and closer to the formation center. Five characteristic temporal evolutions of the deep convection are identified: (i) single convection event, (ii) two convection events, (iii) three convection events, (iv) gradual decrease in TB, and (v) fluctuating TB, or a slight increase in TB before formation. Although no dominant temporal evolution differentiates cases in the six synoptic patterns, evolutions ii and iii seem to be the common routes taken by the monsoon-related formations. The overall percentage of cases with MCS activity at multiple times is 63%, and in 35% of cases more than one MCS coexisted. Most of the MC and MS cases develop multiple MCSs that lead to several episodes of deep convection. These two patterns have the highest percentage of coexisting MCSs such that potential interaction between these systems may play a role in the formation process. The MCSs in the monsoon-related formations are distributed around the center, except in the NE–SW cases in which clustering of MCSs is found about 100–200 km east of the center during the 12 h before formation. On average only one MCS occurs during an EW formation, whereas the mean value is around two for the other monsoon-related patterns. Both the mean lifetime and time of first appearance of MCS in EW are much shorter than those developed in other synoptic patterns, which indicates that the overall formation evolution in the EW case is faster. Moreover, this MCS is most likely to be found within 100 km east of the center 12 h before formation. The implications of these results to internal mechanisms of tropical cyclone formation are discussed in light of other recent mesoscale studies.

scholarly journals Observations of Upper-Tropospheric Influence on a Monsoon Trough over the Western North Pacific

2014 ◽  
Vol 142 (4) ◽  
pp. 1472-1488 ◽  
Author(s):  
Biao Geng ◽  
Kunio Yoneyama ◽  
Ryuichi Shirooka
Keyword(s):  
North Pacific ◽  
Western North Pacific ◽  
North Pacific Ocean ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Monsoon Trough ◽  
Pressure Cell ◽  
Intensive Observations ◽  
Upper Level ◽  
Synoptic Observations ◽  
Eastern Edge

Abstract This study examined the synoptic evolution and internal structure of a monsoon trough in association with the deep equatorward intrusion of a midlatitude upper trough in the western North Pacific Ocean in June 2008. The study was based on data from routine synoptic observations and intensive observations conducted on board the research vessel Mirai at 12°N, 135°E. The monsoon trough was first observed to extend southeastward from the center of a tropical depression. It then moved northward, with its eastern edge moving faster and approaching a surface low pressure cell induced by the upper trough. The distinct northward migration caused the monsoon trough to become oriented from the southwest to the northeast. The monsoon trough merged with the surface low pressure cell and extended broadly northeastward. The passage of the monsoon trough over the Mirai was accompanied by lower pressure, higher air and sea surface temperature, and minimal rainfall. The monsoon trough extended upward to nearly 500 hPa and sloped southward with height. It was overlain by northwesterly winds, negative geopotential height and temperature anomalies, and extremely dry air in the upper troposphere. Precipitation systems were weak and scattered near the monsoon trough but were intense and extensive south of the surface monsoon trough, where intense low-level convergence and upper-level divergence caused deep and vigorous upward motion. It appears that the upper trough exerted important impacts on the development of both the monsoon trough and associated precipitation, which are discussed according to the observational results.

scholarly journals High-Resolution Seeded Simulations of Western North Pacific Ocean Tropical Cyclones in Two Future Extreme Climates

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 309-334
Author(s):  
J. G. McLay ◽  
E. A. Hendricks ◽  
J. Moskaitis
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
Tropical Cyclones ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
Western North Pacific ◽  
North Pacific Ocean ◽  
Weather Prediction ◽  
Bootstrap Analysis ◽  
Western North Pacific Ocean ◽  
The Future

ABSTRACT A variant of downscaling is devised to explore the properties of tropical cyclones (TCs) that originate in the open ocean of the western North Pacific Ocean (WestPac) region under extreme climates. This variant applies a seeding strategy in large-scale environments simulated by phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) climate-model integrations together with embedded integrations of Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System for Tropical Cyclones (COAMPS-TC), an operational, high-resolution, nonhydrostatic, convection-permitting numerical weather prediction (NWP) model. Test periods for the present day and late twenty-first century are sampled from two different integrations for the representative concentration pathway (RCP) 8.5 forcing scenario. Then seeded simulations for the present-day period are contrasted with similar seeded simulations for the future period. Reinforcing other downscaling studies, the seeding results suggest that the future environments are notably more conducive to high-intensity TC activity in the WestPac. Specifically, the future simulations yield considerably more TCs that exceed 96-kt (1 kt ≈ 0.5144 m s−1) intensity, and these TCs exhibit notably greater average life cycle maximum intensity and tend to spend more time above the 96-kt intensity threshold. Also, the future simulations yield more TCs that make landfall at >64-kt intensity, and the average landfall intensity of these storms is appreciably greater. These findings are supported by statistical bootstrap analysis as well as by a supplemental sensitivity analysis. Accounting for COAMPS-TC intensity forecast bias using a quantile-matching approach, the seeded simulations suggest that the potential maximum western North Pacific TC intensities in the future extreme climate may be approximately 190 kt.

scholarly journals The roles of ENSO on the occurrence of abruptly recurving tropical cyclones over the Western North Pacific Ocean Basin

2006 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 139-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. K. W. Cheung
Keyword(s):  
Tropical Cyclones ◽  
El Niño ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
Western North Pacific ◽  
Pressure Field ◽  
El Nino ◽  
North Pacific Ocean ◽  
Ocean Basin ◽  
La Niña ◽  
La Nina

Abstract. The abruptly recurving tropical cyclones over the Western North Pacific Ocean Basin during El Niño and La Niña events are studied. Temporal and spatial variations of these anomalous tracks under different phases of ENSO are shown. The anomalies of the pressure field in relation to ENSO circulation for the occurrence of the abruptly recurving cyclone tracks are investigated using fuzzy method. These are supplemented by wind field analyses. It is found that the occurrence of recurving-left (RL) and recurving-right (RR) tropical cyclones under the modification of the steering currents, including the re-adjustment of the westerly trough, the expansion or contraction of the sub-tropical high pressure, the intensifying easterly flow and the strengthening of the cross-equatorial flow, can be in El Niño or La Niña events. Evidently, there is a higher chance of occurrence of anomalous tropical cyclone trajectories in El Niño rather than La Niña events, but there is not any pronounced spatial pattern of anomalous tropical cyclone tracks. By analyzing the pressure-field, it is seen RL (RR) tropical cyclones tend to occur when the subtropical high pressure is weak (strong) in El Niño and La Niña events. More importantly, how the internal force of tropical cyclones changed by the steering current, which relies upon the relative location of tropical cyclones to the re-adjustment of the weather systems, shows when and where RL and RR tropical cyclones occur in El Niño and La Niña events.

scholarly journals Association of the Poleward Shift of East Asian Subtropical Upper-Level Jet with Frequent Tropical Cyclone Activities over the Western North Pacific in Summer

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (14) ◽  
pp. 5597-5603 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xian Chen ◽  
Zhong Zhong ◽  
Wei Lu
Keyword(s):  
Tropical Cyclone ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
Western North Pacific ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Teleconnection Pattern ◽  
Reanalysis Dataset ◽  
Poleward Shift ◽  
Upper Level ◽  
Upper Level Jet

The NCEP–NCAR reanalysis dataset and the tropical cyclone (TC) best-track dataset from the Regional Specialized Meteorological Center (RSMC) Tokyo Typhoon Center were employed in the present study to investigate the possible linkage of the meridional displacement of the East Asian subtropical upper-level jet (EASJ) with the TC activity over the western North Pacific (WNP). Results indicate that summertime frequent TC activities would create the poleward shift of the EASJ through a stimulated Pacific–Japan (PJ) teleconnection pattern as well as the changed large-scale meridional temperature gradient. On the contrary, in the inactive TC years, the EASJ is often located more southward than normal with an enhanced intensity. Therefore, TC activities over the WNP are closely related to the location and intensity of the EASJ in summer at the interannual time scale.

Cyclone Wind Field Asymmetries during Extratropical Transition in the Western North Pacific

2014 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 421-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Loridan ◽  
E. Scherer ◽  
M. Dixon ◽  
E. Bellone ◽  
S. Khare
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
Wind Field ◽  
Western North Pacific ◽  
North Pacific Ocean ◽  
Maximum Magnitude ◽  
Wind Fields ◽  
Extratropical Transition ◽  
Left Hand ◽  
Assessment Systems

AbstractRisk-assessment systems for wind hazards (e.g., hurricanes or typhoons) often rely on simple parametric wind field formulations. They are built using extensive observations of tropical cyclones and make assumptions about wind field asymmetry. In this framework, maximum winds are always simulated to the right of the cyclone, but analysis of the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis database for the western North Pacific Ocean suggests that wind fields from cyclones undergoing extratropical transition around Japan often present features that cannot be adequately simulated under these assumptions. These “left-hand-side contribution” (LHSC) wind fields exhibit strong winds on both sides of the moving cyclone with the maximum magnitude often located to the left. Classification of cyclones in terms of their most frequent patterns reveals that 67% of cases that make a transition around Japan are dominantly LHSC. They are more likely in autumn and have more intense maximum winds. The results from this study show the need for a new approach to the modeling of transitioning wind fields in the context of risk-assessment systems.

History of Typhoon Science

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aitor Anduaga
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
Tropical Cyclones ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
North Pacific Ocean ◽  
Far East ◽  
Weather Forecast ◽  
Polar Front ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Cloud Models

A typhoon is a highly organized storm system that develops from initial cyclone eddies and matures by sucking up from the warm tropical oceans large quantities of water vapor that condense at higher altitudes. This latent heat of condensation is the prime source of energy supply that strengthens the typhoon as it progresses across the Pacific Ocean. A typhoon differs from other tropical cyclones only on the basis of location. While hurricanes form in the Atlantic Ocean and eastern North Pacific Ocean, typhoons develop in the western North Pacific around the Philippines, Japan, and China. Because of their violent histories with strong winds and torrential rains and their impact on society, the countries that ring the North Pacific basin—China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and Taiwan—all often felt the need for producing typhoon forecasts and establishing storm warning services. Typhoon accounts in the pre-instrumental era were normally limited to descriptions of damage and incidences, and subsequent studies were hampered by the impossibility of solving the equations governing the weather, as they are distinctly nonlinear. The world’s first typhoon forecast was made in 1879 by Fr. Federico Faura, who was a Jesuit scientist from the Manila Observatory. His brethren from the Zikawei Jesuit Observatory, Fr. Marc Dechevrens, first reconstructed the trajectory of a typhoon in 1879, a study that marked the beginning of an era. The Jesuits and other Europeans like William Doberck studied typhoons as a research topic, and their achievements are regarded as products of colonial meteorology. Between the First and Second World Wars, there were important contributions to typhoon science by meteorologists in the Philippines (Ch. Deppermann, M. Selga, and J. Coronas), China (E. Gherzi), and Japan (T. Okada, and Y. Horiguti). The polar front theory developed by the Bergen School in Norway played an important role in creating the large-scale setting for tropical cyclones. Deppermann became the greatest exponent of the polar front theory and air-masses analysis in the Far East and Southeast Asia. From the end of WWII, it became evident that more effective typhoon forecasts were needed to meet military demands. In Hawaii, a joint Navy and Air Force center for typhoon analysis and forecasting was established in 1959—the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC). Its goals were to publish annual typhoon summaries and conduct research into tropical cyclone forecasting and detection. Other centers had previously specialized in issuing typhoon warnings and analysis. Thus, research and operational forecasting went hand in hand not only in the American JTWC but also in China (the Hong Kong Observatory, the Macao Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau), Japan (the Regional Specialized Meteorological Center), and the Philippines (Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Service Administration [PAGASA]). These efforts produced more precise scientific knowledge about the formation, structure, and movement of typhoons. In the 1970s and the 1980s, three new tools for research—three-dimensional numerical cloud models, Doppler radar, and geosynchronous satellite imagery—provided a new observational and dynamical perspective on tropical cyclones. The development of modern computing systems has offered the possibility of making numerical weather forecast models and simulations of tropical cyclones. However, typhoons are not mechanical artifacts, and forecasting their track and intensity remains an uncertain science.

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